A Music Review Collective

First Listen Review: Wild Nothing – “Life of Pause”

The Good: For a good proportion of this album, the feel of the original two albums remains at the heart. It still proves the band to be one of the leaders in the Dream Pop revival. This album mixes up the styles a little more, with not only your standard paced indie tracks, but a few slower paced ditties on here as well. There is additional instruments as well that were not found on the past albums, such as saxophones. The styles of the rhythm guitar appear to be more varied as well, more than the simple jangly chord progressions being used for simple atmosphere. Here the guitars are working with more attempts to be rhythmic. The keyboards on this are more melodic than in previous albums as well. The overall tone seems more uplifting than the previous album’s mellow, but subtle melancholy. A lot of the songs on here remind me of where Bombay Bicycle Club have wandered recently.

The Bad: This album is certainly better on the second half. These songs sound a little closer to traditional Wild Nothing as well. I think the album would have flowed better if the new, slower styles were mixed throughout the more recognizable Wild Nothing tracks instead of opening the album and throwing the listeners into a new environment straight away.The vocals on this album are nowhere as near catchy as the previous albums, nor are the songs as haunting or danceable. The final song seems a little anticlimactic as well. Nevertheless, I thought it quite impossible to make a better song than “Shadow”